Physical investigations of small particles : (I) aerosol particle charging and flux enhancement and (II) whispering gallery mode sensing

Part I

Particles are a key feature of planetary atmospheres. On Earth they represent the greatest source of uncertainty in the global energy budget. This uncertainty can be addressed by making more measurement, by improving the theoretical analysis of measurements, and by better modeling basic particle nucleation and initial particle growth within an atmosphere. This work will focus on the latter two methods of improvement.

Uncertainty in measurements is largely due to particle charging. Accurate descriptions of particle charging are challenging because one deals with particles in a gas as opposed to a vacuum, so different length scales come into play. Previous studies have considered the effects of transition between the continuum and kinetic regime and the effects of two and three body interactions within the kinetic regime. These studies, however, use questionable assumptions about the charging process which resulted in skewed observations, and bias in the proposed dynamics of aerosol particles. These assumptions affect both the ions and particles in the system. Ions are assumed to be point monopoles that have a single characteristic speed rather than follow a distribution. Particles are assumed to be perfect conductors that have up to five elementary charges on them. The effects of three body interaction, ion-molecule-particle, are also overestimated. By revising this theory so that the basic physical attributes of both ions and particles and their interactions are better represented, we are able to make more accurate predictions of particle charging in both the kinetic and continuum regimes.

The same revised theory that was used above to model ion charging can also be applied to the flux of neutral vapor phase molecules to a particle or initial cluster. Using these results we can model the vapor flux to a neutral or charged particle due to diffusion and electromagnetic interactions. In many classical theories currently applied to these models, the finite size of the molecule and the electromagnetic interaction between the molecule and particle, especially for the neutral particle case, are completely ignored, or, as is often the case for a permanent dipole vapor species, strongly underestimated. Comparing our model to these classical models we determine an “enhancement factor” to characterize how important the addition of these physical parameters and processes is to the understanding of particle nucleation and growth.

Part II

Whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical biosensors are capable of extraordinarily sensitive specific and non-specific detection of species suspended in a gas or fluid. Recent experimental results suggest that these devices may attain single-molecule sensitivity to protein solutions in the form of stepwise shifts in their resonance wavelength, \lambda_{R}, but present sensor models predict much smaller steps than were reported. This study examines the physical interaction between a WGM sensor and a molecule adsorbed to its surface, exploring assumptions made in previous efforts to model WGM sensor behavior, and describing computational schemes that model the experiments for which single protein sensitivity was reported. The resulting model is used to simulate sensor performance, within constraints imposed by the limited material property data. On this basis, we conclude that nonlinear optical effects would be needed to attain the reported sensitivity, and that, in the experiments for which extreme sensitivity was reported, a bound protein experiences optical energy fluxes too high for such effects to be ignored.

Effects of particle size ratio on single particle motion in colloidal dispersions

The motion of a single Brownian particle of arbitrary size through a dilute colloidal dispersion of neutrally buoyant bath spheres of another characteristic size in a Newtonian solvent is examined in two contexts. First, the particle in question, the probe particle, is subject to a constant applied external force drawing it through the suspension as a simple model for active and nonlinear microrheology. The strength of the applied external force, normalized by the restoring forces of Brownian motion, is the Péclet number, Pe. This dimensionless quantity describes how strongly the probe is upsetting the equilibrium distribution of the bath particles. The mean motion and fluctuations in the probe position are related to interpreted quantities of an effective viscosity of the suspension. These interpreted quantities are calculated to first order in the volume fraction of bath particles and are intimately tied to the spatial distribution, or microstructure, of bath particles relative to the probe. For weak Pe, the disturbance to the equilibrium microstructure is dipolar in nature, with accumulation and depletion regions on the front and rear faces of the probe, respectively. With increasing applied force, the accumulation region compresses to form a thin boundary layer whose thickness scales with the inverse of Pe. The depletion region lengthens to form a trailing wake. The magnitude of the microstructural disturbance is found to grow with increasing bath particle size -- small bath particles in the solvent resemble a continuum with effective microviscosity given by Einstein's viscosity correction for a dilute dispersion of spheres. Large bath particles readily advect toward the minimum approach distance possible between the probe and bath particle, and the probe and bath particle pair rotating as a doublet is the primary mechanism by which the probe particle is able to move past; this is a process that slows the motion of the probe by a factor of the size ratio. The intrinsic microviscosity is found to force thin at low Péclet number due to decreasing contributions from Brownian motion, and force thicken at high Péclet number due to the increasing influence of the configuration-averaged reduction in the probe's hydrodynamic self mobility. Nonmonotonicity at finite sizes is evident in the limiting high-Pe intrinsic microviscosity plateau as a function of bath-to-probe particle size ratio. The intrinsic microviscosity is found to grow with the size ratio for very small probes even at large-but-finite Péclet numbers. However, even a small repulsive interparticle potential, that excludes lubrication interactions, can reduce this intrinsic microviscosity back to an order one quantity. The results of this active microrheology study are compared to previous theoretical studies of falling-ball and towed-ball rheometry and sedimentation and diffusion in polydisperse suspensions, and the singular limit of full hydrodynamic interactions is noted.

Second, the probe particle in question is no longer subject to a constant applied external force. Rather, the particle is considered to be a catalytically-active motor, consuming the bath reactant particles on its reactive face while passively colliding with reactant particles on its inert face. By creating an asymmetric distribution of reactant about its surface, the motor is able to diffusiophoretically propel itself with some mean velocity. The effects of finite size of the solute are examined on the leading order diffusive microstructure of reactant about the motor. Brownian and interparticle contributions to the motor velocity are computed for several interparticle interaction potential lengths and finite reactant-to-motor particle size ratios, with the dimensionless motor velocity increasing with decreasing motor size. A discussion on Brownian rotation frames the context in which these results could be applicable, and future directions are proposed which properly incorporate reactant advection at high motor velocities.

Baryon and lepton numbers in particle physics beyond the standard model

The works presented in this thesis explore a variety of extensions of the standard model of particle physics which are motivated by baryon number (B) and lepton number (L), or some combination thereof. In the standard model, both baryon number and lepton number are accidental global symmetries violated only by non-perturbative weak effects, though the combination B-L is exactly conserved. Although there is currently no evidence for considering these symmetries as fundamental, there are strong phenomenological bounds restricting the existence of new physics violating B or L. In particular, there are strict limits on the lifetime of the proton whose decay would violate baryon number by one unit and lepton number by an odd number of units.

The first paper included in this thesis explores some of the simplest possible extensions of the standard model in which baryon number is violated, but the proton does not decay as a result. The second paper extends this analysis to explore models in which baryon number is conserved, but lepton flavor violation is present. Special attention is given to the processes of μ to e conversion and μ → eγ which are bound by existing experimental limits and relevant to future experiments.

The final two papers explore extensions of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) in which both baryon number and lepton number, or the combination B-L, are elevated to the status of being spontaneously broken local symmetries. These models have a rich phenomenology including new collider signatures, stable dark matter candidates, and alternatives to the discrete R-parity symmetry usually built into the MSSM in order to protect against baryon and lepton number violating processes.